NOR'EASTER SEASON

 I was reminded by Facebook that 5 years ago BIANKA Was at the dock ready to be pulled for the season. 

This year BIANKA it's still at the mooring.

I was hoping to get one more small cruise in before the season ends.  However, the weather forecast for this week shows the first Nor'easter developing off the coast. Gale conditions are expected. A good sign that it's time to pull the boat for the season.  Something that I'll be considering for next week. 

HOT TIMES ON LAND

It was the third day of the heatwave yesterday. I was on board BIANKA sweating and doing my best to keep hydrated. When I looked at the weather station in the cabin and saw the temperature was 100 degrees Fahrenheit both inside the cabin and outside in the cockpit.

Luckily the sea breeze finally made it across the island and knocked the temperature back down into the 90's.

It was another reminder to get BIANKA launched soon. Having her 5000 pound keel back in cooler waters will keep me cooler as well.

THINKING ABOUT THE WEATHER

Color of the sky as far as I can see is coal grey. 
Lift my head from the pillow and then fall again. 
Shiver in my bones, just thinking about the weather. Quiver in my lip as if I might cry.

                                                                                                -10,000 Maniacs

Nothing real urgent is preventing me from launching BIANKA except this cold wet Spring weather. It just has not been very conducive to splashing the boat only to have it sit on the mooring.  I know i'll resist heading to the boatyard knowing I have to bailout the dingy on these cold drizzly days. I don't know if it is my retirement pace or age that is causing this years procrastination. But, I expect I'll soon snap out of it as soon as this unusually cold wet weather passes.

SQUALL AT ANCHOR 50+ KNOTS

 I've been out traveling for the past few weeks and so have not posted anything in awhile. But, here is a video I took while cruising in the Exumas when a squall came through one morning. It did not last long but, long enough to rip apart the dodger which you can see flapping at the top of the screen in part of the video. The boat behind us also had it's dingy flip over with a brand new outboard attached:

WINTERLUDE 2016 PART TWO

Having spent most of January cruising in the Caribbean I was lucky enough to miss JONAS the named blizzard that hit the area. Luckily there was no Arctic freeze following the storm and temperatures rose melting much of the snow before I returned.   So unlike last winter I was easily able to get down to the boatyard and check on BIANKA and see how she fared while I was away.
The deck cockpit and the deck on the south facing side had very little snow on them. The Solar Bimini where I had not yet reinforced the Lexan center piece had collapsed on one edge dumping some snow into the corner of the cockpit.

Something I will take care of once things warm up. For now I re positioned it back and slide a temporary brace underneath it. The deck area on the northern side of the boat still had about two inches of slushy snow and ice. I thought there would be more snow and bought a plastic folding shovel along to help remove it:

 I got this folding plastic shovel many years ago as a Christmas present. It's made for carrying in the car. But, I found a better use for it on board to help remove any snow and ice on the deck that might linger over the winter. It's small enough for the deck area and it being plastic does not mar the deck.

The cover over the mast partners was still secure so it was time to see how things were in the cabin. I looked in the bilge and there was a little bit of water in the bilge. Not surprising since the boat had been through a major Blizzard two weeks before.

I used my two gallon wet/dry vacuum to suck the water out and splashed some more antifreeze into the bilge:

 This should help keep things unfrozen until I can once again check on things in another week or so. I did find one item that gave up the ghost from the last time I used it last winter. That was the small ceramic cube electric heater:

It was still putting out heat but, the fan was not working. It was on BIANKA when I bought her in 1995 and was working last winter helping to keep me warm while working on board. Though I guess twenty plus years is a pretty good run. I'll probably buy a replacement for the next visit.

SOMETIMES YOU GET LUCKY

The word from NOAA:

"...BLIZZARD WATCH IN EFFECT FROM SATURDAY MORNING THROUGH SUNDAY
AFTERNOON...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN UPTON HAS ISSUED A BLIZZARD
WATCH...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM SATURDAY MORNING THROUGH SUNDAY
AFTERNOON.

* LOCATIONS...THE FIVE BOROUGHS OF NEW YORK CITY...COASTAL
  PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY...AND LONG ISLAND.

* HAZARD TYPES...HEAVY SNOW ALONG WITH STRONG AND POTENTIALLY
  DAMAGING WINDS.

* ACCUMULATIONS...SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 8 TO 12 INCHES.

* WINDS...NORTHEAST 25 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH.

* TEMPERATURES...IN THE LOWER 30S.

* VISIBILITIES...ONE QUARTER MILE OR LESS AT TIMES.

* TIMING...SATURDAY MORNING THROUGH SUNDAY AFTERNOON."

Meanwhile down here in the Caribbean it looks like this:

Feel lucky to be down here cruising for a bit as a blizzard approaches up northbut, still thinking about BIANKA on the hard.

ADIOS HURRICANE JOAQUIN, HELLO GALE

It's with some relief that hurricane Joaquin will not be making landfall here as it tracks out to sea. But, these nor' easter conditions is no day at the beach either. It's been blowing a pretty steady 20 knots in the harbor. I've measured gusts as high as 32! It was apparently too much for this day sailing cat boat on a mooring near BIANKA:

Which sunk sometime during the night. I thought I saw the young owners on the beach trying to comfort each other as they came to check on their boat. Meanwhile, the gale warnings continue into tomorrow. I'm looking forward to the winds calming down. But, perhaps this is what happens when a boat on a neighboring mooring is named Storm Chaser:

KEEPING A WEATHER EYE

I'm keeping a weather eye on Hurricane Danny which looks like it will be breaking bad for a lot of sailors in the Caribbean area the next couple of days. Even though it is far from my local waters at this point. I found out such storms can sneak up on you if your guard is down. A number of years ago my gal and I were vacationing at Montauk on the eastern end of Long Island. We took a ferry over to Block Island and listened to a Park Ranger describe her family's experience during the Hurricane of 1938. We wondered why she was going on about it so much. We soon found out that indeed a Hurricane was heading for our area in the next day or two. Being on vacation we had been in a media blackout. It was the days before smart phones and wifi. We got back on the last ferry to Montauk and hightailed out of our motel room a day early. My girlfriend got on the last Long Island Railroad train heading to New York on the mainline before a tree across the tracks and shut it down. Since that time I now know to keep a weather eye on storms brewing in the Caribbean well in advance of their movements north.

UH OH!

BIANKA is not yet in the water but Tropical Storm ANA has formed off the southeast United States. I'm a little concerned as the storm makes it's way up the coast. But, there are a few good things in my favor:

1) One thing is the boat is still on land.
2) The mast has been unstepped which means less windage and stress on it.
3) The brutal cold winter has meant that the waters around Long Island are colder than normal and so should knock down the storms strength.

All of the above help ease my fears about the storm doing any major damage but, I'll be keeping a weather eye on it.

Remembering Sandy

It was two years ago the superstorm Sandy hit the area.  I went down to the boatyard in the morning before the storm hit but, the winds had already whipped up Long Island Sound into very rough conditions:


In addition water was already flooding over the only access road in or out to the boatyard. So I was only able to catch a quick glimpse of BIANKA still at her original location before I had to hightail it out of the area or be stuck for as the storm hit. I choose to head back and just barely beat the flood waters:


After the storm passed I found BIANKA a thousand feet from where I had left her the day before. Luckily undamaged and still floating. Which was good since I moved back on board since there I had power thanks to the solar and wind turbine and also the Honda 2000 generator. I also had Internet access via the cell phone. While back on land many did without these due to power lines being down for weeks.  The storm also taught me some important lessons.  .

Nor' easter Season Again

Two days ago I had a delightful sail back to BIANKA'S homeport at the end of a fall cruise to the Oyster Bay Oyster Festival. Today I am tied to a dock as a Nor' easter starts to form just to the south of the Long Island. I actually prefer to ride this weather out on a mooring. But, I am expecting some packages to arrive on shore and wanted to be there to receive them. I have doubled up on the lines and they have stretched enough to make stepping on the dock a little iffy. Another concern is the cleats on the aging dock. Winds are expect to increase even more this afternoon with gusts to 30 knots. Welcome to Nor' Easter season.

THE SHIPPING FORECAST

We here in the states are stuck with the semi droning artificial voices for the NOAA VHF radio marine forecasts. Over in England humans still read the weather forecasts for shipping interests and boaters around the island nation. It also attracts it share of landlubbers also. Books have been written about The Shipping Forecast like Attention All Shipping: A Journey Round the Shipping Forecast (Radio 4 Book of the Week) or And Now the Shipping Forecast: A Tide of History Around Our Shores. Another is a book of paintings of locations and areas mentioned in The Shipping Forecast called Rain Later, Good: Painting the Shipping Forecast
  National Public Radio had an interesting report about the allure of the Shipping Forecast that can be found here.  It is interesting to hear how all of the English waters are covered in one broadcast while here in the states forecasts are more localized. Click here to listen to the latest Shipping Forecast on BBC4.

92 IN THE SHADE

Ninety-two in the Shade was decent book by Tom McGuane and a forgettable movie starring Peter Fonda. But, with a Bermuda high parked over the East Coast it is a reality in the cockpit of BIANKA and the heat expected to last another day or two. The solar bimini I built over the cockpit:

is doing it's job by keeping the 12 volt and 48 volt battery banks charged up as well as providing much need shade from the summer sun. But,with temperatures in the mid 90's and fickle breezes it still gets hot. Luckily relief is just over the side with a swim.  The other day I was rewiring some digital panel meters and as I was sweating getting ready to fire up my portable butane soldering iron the thought the idea of anymore heat was unthinkable. So I stopped and jumped in for a refreshing a half hour swim instead before finishing things up.

Though I am not cursing the heat at all. It is summer and it was only five months ago that this was the scene I was looking at:

So the only thing is to keep the beers cold and fire up Ray Bonneville's July Sun on the MP3 player and enjoy the season and know that as hot as it is on board it is much worse on land.

  

WHY I'M AN OPTIMIST

While some sailors may look out their front door in despair at this scene courtesy of the blizzard Nemo. As for myself, I take comfort that I mailed in the application for this seasons mooring permit yesterday. So I know the sailing season is on it's way.

MID WINTER CHECKUP

It's sure been a cold cold winter

- Rolling Stones

Yeah, this winter is certainly not as warm or snow free as last year. So last week when things warmed up into the mid fifties last year I took advantage of the heat wave to go check on the boat. Things were looking good. The bilge was completely dry except for the splash of   antifreeze    I left in it.  I also did a quick check  of the propulsion battery bank which has being topped up over the winter by solar and wind charging systems. I fired up the Dual Pro Charger just to make sure things were fully topped up. While I waited for it to go through it's cycle I finished the last chapter of The Coast of Summer: sailing New England Waters from Shelter Island to Cape Cod by Anthony Bailey. A book I had been reading on board. I took a little nap too and by the time I woke up the charger had finished.
:

Things were looking good there too!

Elsewhere in the boatyard there were signs of recovery from the effects of Super storm Sandy last October. New replacement docks being assembled in the yard:

.and others like this new Dingy dock are already floating in the water:

So even though a snow storm is threatening to hit the area in a few days there are signs that the boating season is on the way. 

TIS THE SEASON

Well it's Nor' Easter time again and all eyes are on Hurricane Sandy heading up this way and morphing into a coastal storm.  Lucky for me I'm only a day sail away from BIANKA's homeport finishing up a fall cruise. So we should arrive before things ramp up. Glad I decide to keep using the current down the Hudson and up the East River the other day instead of stopping over in New York for two days. Tomorrow the winds will be variable under five knots. Two days later they are calling for 25 to 30. It would be nice to split the difference but, even if I have to electro sail it will be a quiet thirty miles back to the home harbor.

A FOGGY MORNING ON THE MOORING

BLOG UPDATE
What a Difference a Day Makes! Below is what that same view looked like today:

A SAILOR LOOKS BACK AT 2011

Well, the New Year is upon us. I enjoyed the previous year on BIANKA and other other boats during the past year. The year did have it's moments both good and bad.

January started out for me with a delightful trip to the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. I would probably never be able to take BIANKA there but, almost two weeks on a Catamaran with a local crew who knew the waters is pretty good experience in my book. I can still taste the fresh Red Snapper among other fish that were caught during the trip:

In March reminders about how danger can come from the sea as the Tsunami in Japan showed us. Even across the ocean we sailors saw what damage even a small Tsunami can do when it made an appearance in Santa Cruz California. Pretty sobering videos.

April found me starting to work on the  diesel fuel tank conversion project. Which at this writing is still not finished. But, the grime I found in the tank made me glad I no longer had to carry diesel fuel on board any more.

Also a quick trip to Chincoteaque Island got me smelling the salt sea air once again after the long winter. It was a good feeling.

May found Capt. Mike in Key West but, only for twenty four hours. The next day thanks to the help of Paradise Connections charters run by fellow sailors Sheila and Bob I boarded a  catamaran for a weeks sail and snorkeling trip up the Keys to Miami. Felt good to be swimming again.

In June THE BIANKA LOG BLOG had it's five year anniversary. I want thank all who stopped here over the years as they journeyed around the Internet.


July found the project box just as full as was at the beginning of the season. Oh well!

In August once again Nature was showing who was boss as the month started with an earthquake in the harbor and along the east coast. It ended with Hurricane Irene causing no shortage of anxiety for me as I had to leave BIANKA for two weeks and hope my efforts to prepare her for the storm were enough. Happily,  BIANKA came though the storm fine but, other boats were not so lucky.

September I had the pleasant surprise that my ASMO MARINE Thoosa 9000 electric propulsion system does in fact regen and help charge the electric propulsion battery bank. A benefit I hope to exploit more next season.

October I attended the Annapolis Sail Boat Show as a guest of the folks at Annapolis Hybrid Marine the distributors of ASMO MARINE products here in the states.  I always find something interesting to see at the show. This year I was very pleased to meet Lin and Larry Pardey in person there.

A few weeks later nature celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the "perfect storm" with another Nor' Easter just to show who's boss.

Happily, I was still sailing in November though the days were short and getting colder. Still there were pinch me moments to enjoy on board. Even picked up some treasure on my walks on the empty beach.

Not much boat work in December with some freelance work coming my way and the holidays taking up a lot of my time. But, the days are getting longer and the sailing season will be coming around again.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

BYE BYE TO THE 2011 HURRICANE SEASON

You are like a hurricane

There's calm in your eye.

And I'm gettin' blown away

To somewhere safer

where the feeling stays.

I want to love you but

I'm getting blown away.

                                                                                                        Neil Young

Well the official 2011 hurricane season ends today and not a moment too soon as far as I'm concerned. Here is what it looked like:

Of course BIANKA met Hurricane Irene up close and personal and unfortunately happened to be on her bad side:

Yes,  from a distance hurricanes are kind of pretty as they seem to dance around the water. But, if you have a boat that's in one it ain't that pretty at all as these scenes from Hurricane Irene show.  Though I was glad that BIANKA was able "weather" the category one storm even though due to work commitments I had to be several hundred miles away when the storm hit. The effects from Irene were felt throughout the northeast for awhile afterward. Indeed BIANKA and I were still seeing and dealing with the after effects several weeks later on a cruise to New York.  But, now that the storms are behind us it's time to start looking forward to the next sailing season.

SEA SMOKE IN THE MORNING

It was a chilly night  when I got into my bunk. Temperatures dropped into the thirties. When I awoke in the morning it was hard to get out from under the nice warm comforter in Capt. Mike's cabin. But, I pushed through that phase. Poking my head out of the cabin I saw this:



You know it was a cold night when you see a Sea Smoke fog like this. Also called evaporation fog. Happily, the sun warmed things up soon enough and the fog disappeared. But, the Baroque music I was listening to seemed to complement the scene nicely while it lasted.